Murray set to renew rivalry with Djokovic
Andy Murray said he is relishing a first meeting in over five years with world No 1 Novak Djokovic after beating Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in three sets at the Madrid Open.
Murray will face his old foe Djokovic in the last 16 after overcoming world No 14 Shapovalov 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in two hours and nine minutes.
The rivals have known each other since childhood and played each other 36 times in their professional careers.
“He’s the world No 1 and I’ve got a metal hip,” Murray told Amazon Prime.
“I didn’t know I’d get opportunities to play matches like this again. In theory I shouldn’t have a chance in the match. But I’ve worked my hardest, put myself in a great position and it’s a fantastic opportunity to play against him again on a big court in a huge tournament.”
The 34-year-old Briton, who marked his return to clay for the first time in two years in Madrid with a straight-sets win against Dominic Thiem in the first round, proved too strong for Shapovalov in the deciding set. Murray raced into an early lead, breaking Shapovalov’s serve twice on his way to taking the opening set in 36 minutes.
The three-time Grand Slam winner heaped more pressure on Shapovalov’s serve in the fifth game of the second set. But Murray squandered two break points and was broken for the first time in the match in the next game to trail 5-2 before Shapovalov served out to level at one set all after one hour and 25 minutes of play.
The deciding set went with serve until the fifth game, when Murray seized on his first break point to edge ahead 4-2.
The Scot, currently 78th in the ATP rankings, held again for 5-2 and went 40-0 ahead on Shapovalov’s serve before sealing another impressive win on his third match point.
“I trained very hard the past four or five weeks and got my game in good shape,” Murray said. “My movement has been so much better than where it was at the beginning of the year and it makes a huge difference to my whole game.
“It allows me to make different decisions on the court. My movement won me that match tonight. I defended so many points.
“[Shapovalov] has so much power and I managed to defend lots of points and that won the match for me, so I was really happy with that.”
Djokovic beat France’s Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2 in his second-round match.